


1. Young

by brokenes



Series: Teen Wolf Challenge (Love Goes Album - Sam Smith) [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Angry Stiles Stilinski, Angst with a Happy Ending, Beacon Hills High School, Cora Hale & Derek Hale Don't Leave, Derek Hale & Stiles Stilinski are the Same Age, Derek Hale Deserves Nice Things, Derek Hale Helps Stiles Stilinski, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Fluff, Everyone is still in high school, Fight and Make-Up, M/M, Meddling Cora Hale, Monsters, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Ogres, Protective Derek, Sheriff Stilinski Feels, Sheriff Stilinski Is Struggling But Trying, Sheriff Stilinski Knows About Werewolves, Slow Build Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Song: Young (Sam Smith), Songfic, Werewolf Hunters, derek is there for stiles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:08:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27513595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenes/pseuds/brokenes
Summary: Derek needs help with research so he goes to Stiles. He doesn't expect to find him so miserable and lost. He definitely doesn't expect to want to do anything to make him feel better.Or,“ I am a kid, at high school, I should be worrying about sports or one night stands with girls or – boys. I don’t know, normal teenage stuff. Not monsters and alcoholism and fraud in legal paperwork to cover up for my supernaturally gifted friends. Like, fuck, how did I get here?”“ Boys?”“ That’s what you took from what I said?”
Relationships: Derek Hale & Stiles Stilinski, Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Series: Teen Wolf Challenge (Love Goes Album - Sam Smith) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2010832
Kudos: 224





	1. Young

**Author's Note:**

> New series coming your way!
> 
> The gifs used aren't my own so credit to their owners.

Stiles was moving the mug in his hand – since all glass cups were dirty and he didn’t have the patience or the focus to wash anything. He heard the sound the liquor made as it whooshed through the mug, and he thought of his own self. How he’d been hitting one wall after the other, and it wasn’t as fluid nor as smooth as the liquor against the surface of the mug. The liquor sounded like it was flowing. Stiles felt like he was drowning. Like he’d been sinking for a while now and no one could tell.

“ Stiles, we need to – “ He heard Derek’s voice, cutting through the sound of the waves crashing over him. He smiled pathetically, filling his mug back up with liquor.

“ What do we need to do now?”

“ What’s going on here?”

“ Nothing in particular. Do you want to join me for a drink?” Stiles didn’t sound like himself. He was monotone, detached. Derek’s eyebrows furrowed, grabbing a chair and sitting on the dining table, a safe distance between him and Stiles.

“ I can’t get drunk, you know that. Since when do you drink this early?”

“ I can drink whenever the hell I feel like it.” Stiles brought the mug to his mouth and gulped its contents down, wincing when it was done. He went for a refill, but Derek’s hand fell on his, forcing it back down to the table, where he pulled the mug away from the grip of his fingers.

“ Did something happen?”

“ Did something happen? Did something fucking happen?” Stiles’ eyes hardened, meeting Derek’s so mindlessly, like he didn’t care what Derek saw in them. He stood to his feet, threw the mug against the nearest wall and listened in as it shattered to tiny pieces, each of them thrown away from the other by the sheer force of Stiles’ disregarding throw.

“ Stiles,” Derek warned, standing too.

“ Yes, something fucking happened. Something is always happening, isn’t it?” Stiles yelled, so uncharacteristically enraged.

“ What is it today? What happened?” Derek talked to him like he was a spooked, cornered animal, about to harm himself or others. Possibly both.

“ Well, we have that amarok taking out hunters and sending them on a wild-hunt aiming to kill any and all werewolves in town. Including everyone in the pack. My best friend. **_You_**. There is that ogre that is lurking around Melissa’s hospital and our school, feeding on fucking children. I found my dad’s stash of booze which means he’s back to drinking again. Oh and he also hates me, so there’s that. Which of these would you like to tackle first? Because if you ask me, I would rather drink like a fish right about now.” Stiles went to lift the entire bottle to his lips, and Derek let him swallow down a gulp or two, before he was shaking his head, stepping in to remove the bottle and throw it in the trash so that neither Stiles nor his father could be tempted by it. Stiles was resigned, defeated. He didn’t put up a fight at all.

“ Your dad doesn’t hate you.” Derek chose to start with what was seemingly hurting Stiles the most. Also, the one thing that was so far from the truth.

“ Yes, he does.”

“ He doesn’t, Stiles.”

“ You don’t **_know_** that. You don’t know anything.”

“ I know that the man loves you more than I’ve seen any father love a son before. I know he – “

“ We had a fucking fight. He didn’t – he didn’t have to say it for me to know. I could see it in his eyes; he doesn’t know what to do with me.”

“ Can you just sit down and tell me exactly what happened.” Derek groaned, growing frustrated with all the wrong words that Stiles was saying, without actually saying anything of substance. Stiles fell back into his chair, rubbing a shaky hand down his face.

“ We were talking about the cases with the children. One of the parents showed up last night at the station and threatened to off themselves because their kid was gone and no one was doing anything about it. They managed to get the guns away and stop them but my dad was.. devastated. He knew the kids are never coming back and he didn’t know how to say that to the parents. He didn’t know how to make sense of things he barely understood himself. He started drinking right in front of me and – I already knew he was back to drinking but he always did his best to hide it from me, and today it was like he didn’t give a fuck anymore. We started yelling, because we’d gone so long without this.. image in my head of him trying to drink himself stupid. My dad wasn’t abusive necessarily but when he got drunk, he wasn’t kind either. I didn’t want to be around that version of him again. I didn’t want him to have to go through the guilt and the shame of it. He thought I was trying to control him. Said I was micromanaging what he ate, how long he worked, and now I wasn’t allowing him to let off some steam, knowing about the day he’d had. He called me selfish. Inconsiderate. Immature. He took the bottle and left in his patrol car. I don’t know if he’s drinking and driving, or if he just went back to the station. I don’t – I don’t know what to do, Derek.”

He looked it too; like he didn’t have a clue where to go from here.

“ Okay, let’s get in the car and drive around until we find your dad.”

“ We have two monsters on the loose. I’m sure you didn’t come here to learn about my daddy issues.”

“ This is important too. The rest of the pack can handle things until this is sorted. Come on.” Derek grabbed Stiles by the wrist, didn’t allow himself to think too deep into all the things it could mean, all the shifts it was evoking within him.

Stiles let himself be guided into Derek’s car. Derek released him by the passenger door, turned around to get in the driver seat. The drive was quiet, with Derek focusing his senses away from Stiles and on any traces of his dad. The first part of that statement was proven difficult to achieve; since Stiles was so close, Derek could hear the exact beat of his heart. Could smell the sweat beads forming against his forehead. Could see how he was folding and releasing his fingers, trying to shake something out of them.

“ He’s going to be fine.” Derek promised, without really knowing that for sure. He just had to say **_something_** to ease the tension out of Stiles. He hoped Stiles wouldn’t call him out on it. He didn’t.

“ I shouldn’t have to worry about my dad drinking himself to death, you know. That’s not – it’s not a normal thing to worry about, especially at my age. I am a kid, at high school, I should be worrying about sports or one night stands with girls or – boys. I don’t know, normal teenage stuff. Not monsters and alcoholism and fraud in legal paperwork to cover up for my supernaturally gifted friends. Like, **_fuck_** , how did I get here?” Derek’s attention was halted by a certain word, unable to listen past it.

“ Boys?”

“ **_That’s_** what you took from what I said?” There was something other than irritation in Stiles’ voice. Derek thought it was amusement.

“ I mean, I’m just curious, I guess. I didn’t know.”

“ You didn’t ask.” Stiles shrugged, his bright, brown eyes shifting away from Derek, and out the window to search for his dad. Derek kind of wished he’d had more time to study them, to take in their exact shade, to see what they looked like, looking at him.

“ Back to the meltdown you were having,” Derek cleared his throat, forcing his eyes back on the road. Stiles snorted, something of a smile curving around his lips. “ You got here because you care, Stiles. Because you can’t let your friends go through what they go through and not do everything you possibly can to help. You could have that normal life you speak of, but you don’t because you would never choose yourself and your peace of mind over your friends’ wellbeing and livelihood. You’re not that selfish. You don’t have it in you.” Stiles frowned, blinked at Derek like he was speaking in a different language. Speaking of a different person.

“ Dude, I do what I do **_because_** I am a selfish coward who would rather die than have to live through losing someone he cares about. I – I am scared to fucking death – quite literally – of losing anyone that I don’t mind them having to lose me as long as I’m not the one losing. I am fully aware of what loss feels like and I can’t do it again, so I lie to my dad and I put myself in unnecessarily dangerous situations and – I cause **_everyone_** so much trouble. Including you. How is that not selfish? I am the most selfish piece of shit you will ever meet.”

“ I don’t believe that. I don’t even think **_you_** believe it.” Derek shook his head, so certain of his perception of Stiles, so sure of his kindness of heart and purity of intentions. “ I know selfish people, Stiles. I’ve lived with a man selfish to his core. Hell, I’ve been selfish myself, not giving a fuck about anyone else but myself, not caring for any repercussions to my actions if they don’t directly affect me. You’re not selfish. Scared, yes. Almost all the time. But you don’t do those things because you don’t care about others; you do them because you don’t care about **_yourself_**. You think your dad or Scott are more worthy of saving than you. That anyone’s life is more valuable than your own. So, you have no problem jumping in front of a bullet or egging on a werewolf much powerful than you, because you’re trying to spare us. You have no regard to your own wellbeing, Stiles. That’s the opposite of selfish. It’s fucking stupid, is what it is, but not so much selfish.” Stiles’ eyes filled up with tears, his bottom lip quivering. He bit down on it, tried so hard not to lose it.

“ You really think that?”

“ That you’re stupid? Yes. I’ve told you this on multiple occasions.” Stiles huffed out a breathless laugh, punching Derek’s arm playfully. He wiped beneath his eyes in case anything had seeped through, looked out the window again after seeing Derek’s proud grin.

“ That’s my dad’s car. He’s at the station.” Stiles pointed an alert finger at one of the parked vehicles, all the lightness in the air overtaken by the urgency in his voice. Derek immediately headed towards the station, barely managed to stop the car before Stiles was throwing himself out of it, running into the station.

Derek parked the car, contemplated going after Stiles but he didn’t know if he would be welcomed. He didn’t know if it was his place. His eyes were pinned on the front doors, waiting for Stiles to re-emerge through them, with an arm around his father, a content smile across his face. He started picturing all the different ways this could go; the sheriff could be remorseful, waiting eagerly for his son to show up for him to take everything back, apologize for all the years of trauma. Stiles’ dad could also be a drunken mess, redirecting all his baseless anger towards Stiles, pushing him further over the edge. Derek almost jumped out of the car at the thought, wishing he could save Stiles from his dad’s un-mindfulness. But his phone started flashing with Cora’s number, reminding him of why he went to Stiles’ house at the first place. With an unwilling sigh, and a final look at the still closed front doors, Derek drove away. 

Derek met up with Scott and Cora in the pediatric department at Melissa’s hospital. They managed to scare off the ogre without him actually taking any of the kids. They got quite the beating but it could have been worse. They could have watched another kid get eaten. Another family lose beyond repair. Derek drove himself and Cora back to the loft once they were sure the ogre wouldn’t come back for the day. Scott decided to spend the rest of his mother’s shift with her.

“ So, how did it go with Stiles?” Cora asked, wiping her hands down her pants to rid herself of the icky, gooey substance that came out of the ogre’s stomach when she put her claws through it.

“ It didn’t. I’ll just call Lydia and ask her to do the research.”

“ What do you mean it didn’t? What happened? Where is he anyway?”

“ With his dad.”

“ Is the sheriff okay?”

“ Yes, Cora.” Derek gritted out, wanting his sister to drop anything Stiles-related.

“ Then why – “

“ I’ll call Lydia now.” Derek took out his phone, wanting to put himself out of his misery. He told Lydia what they needed, and much like Cora, she asked why Stiles couldn’t do it. Derek politely asked her to do it herself, making up some bullshit excuse about how Stiles was busy helping the sheriff out with cases. Lydia didn’t sound like she was convinced, but she let it go, promising Derek to call back with updates soon.

“ Now that the phone call is done, tell me – “

“ Shut **_up_** , Cora. There is nothing to tell. Stiles is busy and Lydia can do the job just as well. Now, let it go, Jesus Christ you’re pushy.”

“ Woah, I was just going to ask you what we should order for dinner.”

“ Oh.”

“ Yeah, **_oh_**. Good to know where your mind was at though.” Derek could almost hear the smirk in her tone without having to turn towards her. He rolled her eyes, not bothering with a response.

“ Chinese. I could go for some Chinese.”

“ You got it.”

And so, when they made it back to the loft, Cora was on food duty and Derek took the first shower. He changed into some fresh sweatpants and walked into the kitchen with a towel to dry his hair on. Cora went to take a shower of her own, informing Derek that his phone rang twice. He saw that it was Stiles calling, frowned because he’d barely managed to stop himself from thinking about the conversation they had that morning, and now he was having to confront it again. He pushed his phone away, opened the fridge to retrieve something to drink until his food got there.

He was shaking his head, trying to unplug his ears because they were sounding stuffy and weird, when he heard a muffled, frantic heartbeat climbing up the stairs. He silently hoped that it would be the delivery guy hurrying up the stairs to get a bigger tip if he got the food to them on time and warm. But with one inhale, he smelled Stiles’ anxiety, and waited as he pushed his way through his door, eyes searching and wild until they fell on him.

“ What’s wrong? Things didn’t go well with your dad?”

“ No, it’s not about that. I’ve been calling. Why haven’t you been picking the fuck up?” Stiles’ eyes found the phone on the counter, flipped upside down and put on silent.

“ I was in the shower.” Derek half-lied. Technically, he was when Stiles’ first couple of calls came in.

“ Parrish got some intel that the hunters were headed this way. Are you here alone? We need to get you out of here before they – “

“ Too late.” Derek whispered, head tilted towards the large glass wall. He could hear the cars pulling up, guns getting cocked, weapons colliding with one another in the trunks.

“ Cora is in the bathroom. I’ll go get her and you go to your car and drive away. You’re human, they have no need for you.”

“ I’m not going anywhere. My dad and a few officers will be here any minute, we just need to stall until they get here.”

“ **_We_** don’t need to do anything. You need to go. I can handle it.” Derek hurriedly climbed up his stairwell, knocking against the bathroom door and yelling out for Cora to get out because they had unwelcomed company. When he went back to the living room, Stiles was standing right where he left him, arms crossed against his chest.

“ Stiles,” Derek groaned out, putting his hands on Stiles’ shoulders and pushing him towards the door.

“ I don’t have time to discuss this with you. I said get out.”

“ How do you expect to handle hunters who assume you and your whole pack have gone feral? I am human, maybe I can have a conversation with them and – “ Stiles dug his feet into the ground, tried to push against Derek as much as he could.

“ A **_conversation_**? With hunters? Are you fucking kidding me? If they’re here to kill us, then they’re here to kill us. There is no changing their minds.”

“ But – “

“ Stiles? What are you doing here? I thought you had stuff with your dad.” Cora said, jumping down the last few steps, her hair wet but at least she was fully clothed.

“ Cora, look out the window, if the hunters aren’t by their cars, you can break through the glass and get out of here. I’ll distract them until help gets here.”

“ Yeah, no. That’s not going to happen.”

“ Come the fuck on, I can’t fight you both at the same time.” Derek opened the front door, and right as he went to shove Stiles hard enough for him to land outside the loft, he found two hunters standing in front of him, guns blazing. Derek instinctively pulled Stiles behind him, walked back until he was standing next to Cora, neither of them shifted yet.

“ The Hales, huh? Are you two the ones causing trouble around town? Aren’t you old enough to be in control now?” One of the hunters spoke, stepping towards them, followed by the other one that Derek saw by the door, and four others that were a few steps behind.

“ It wasn’t us. There is an amarok running around town, randomly killing people.”

“ An amarok? You mean the mythical, gigantic, lone werewolf? Yeah, that’s convenient.”

“ It’s true, man. The Hales have been here for decades, what makes you think they will jeopardize their lives and everything they’ve built?” Stiles said, moving around Derek’s armor-like body, despite his tightening grip.

“ It’s called loss of control, kid. They can’t really help themselves. Maybe the first one was by accident, and once they started, they couldn’t stop. They were in too deep.” One of the hunters pointed his gun at Derek, the others imitating him.

“ They didn’t do it. I saw the fucking amarok myself! The Hales didn’t kill anyone.”

“ Move, kid, or you’re going to get hurt. We don’t want to kill humans but if it happens, we won’t be too mad about it. Especially since you seem to be stupid enough to hang around these monsters.” Cora shifted, roared but made no move to attack the hunters. Derek followed suit, knowing that he couldn’t let her be their only target. It wouldn’t matter to them that she didn’t make the first move, they would just shoot her and say it was in self-defense.

“ Stop! Stop that! You don’t want to start a war between humans and werewolves. Don’t you have some rule-book to follow? What makes you so sure these werewolves are the ones you’re after?”

“ We’re not. We can’t be sure unless we see them in action, and we won’t risk any more lives to do that. Which is why we’re getting rid of all werewolves in Beacon Hills, until the killings stop, and then we’ll know for sure which of them did it.” Stiles had an arm hovering around each of the Hales, his chest leaning towards the hunters like he was willing to take a bullet for them.

“ Stop fucking doing that.” Derek pushed through Stiles’ arm, inched only slightly closer towards the hunters but that was enough for one of them to shoot once, a bullet landing in Cora’s stomach. She fell backwards, hands against the bullet wound, trying to breathe through the agony of the poison tearing through her from the inside out. Derek dropped next to her, lifting her head in his hands, shifting back to his human form. Stiles moved so that he was standing as a barrier between the hunters and Derek and Cora, arms spread out beside him, his eyes occasionally turning to steal a glance at Derek, to make sure Cora was still alive.

They heard the sirens, the hunters’ heads moving around nervously, until the door was broken through, and the sheriff appeared, surrounded by a team of officers, including Parrish. Derek and Cora were no longer shifted, making it seem like these men with guns attacked them in their own homes, and attempted to murder Cora. The sheriff and Parrish knew better, but no one else did. The officers cuffed each of the hunters, the sheriff moving through the crowd until he had his son enveloped in his arms.

“ Sorry it took me so long to get here, kiddo. Are you okay?” The sheriff pulled away, with a hand rested against Stiles’ cheek. Everything from this morning was forgotten, like it’d never been at all.

“ Yeah, I’m fine. Cora is hurt though, so you need to get everybody out of here so that we can burn the venom out.”

“ Okay, yeah, you got it. You’re going to have to take her to the hospital though, Melissa will help out with the paperwork we’ll need to close the case.” Stiles nodded, let his dad hug him once more, before he went back to getting things in order, giving the officers things to do to get them out of the loft. Parrish handed Stiles one of the bullets from the hunters’ gun before leaving him with a gentle pat on the shoulder. As soon as the door was closed behind the last of the officers, Stiles turned to Derek, handed him the bullet and watched as Cora twitched and thrashed, letting out one resounding howl before stilling, her eyes falling closed.

“ Is she okay?” Stiles asked, looking between Cora’s rested face, and the sour expression across Derek’s.

“ She’s going to be fine. I’ll take her up to her bed so she sleeps it off.” Derek put a hand around Cora’s legs, another by her shoulder blades, effortlessly lifting her. He didn’t look at Stiles at all, barely acknowledged his presence. Stiles felt like he’d done something wrong; he just couldn’t place it.

Stiles grabbed a towel, wiped Cora’s blood before it could dry onto the floor. He made sure there were no traces of wolfsbane to harm Derek or Cora later on. When he went to throw the towel away, Derek came down the stairs, looking like he still wasn’t all there.

“ Oh, you’re still here.” Derek’s tone was clipped, layered with an annoyance, an irritation that bruised Stiles’ ego a little.

“ I wanted to make sure you and Cora were okay.”

“ We’re fine.” Derek grumbled, still not willing to mellow under the weight of Stiles’ concern.

“ Are you mad at me or something? What’s with the attitude?” Derek rolled his eyes, stood by the glass wall, silently brooding.

“ Derek – “

“ What are you doing here, Stiles?”

“ I told you – “

“ Yeah, and I said we’re fine. Why are you still here?”

“ Why are you being such a dick?”

“ You just – you don’t get it. Just go home, Stiles.”

“ Fine. I’m leaving you fucking asshole.” Stiles headed to the front door, had it wide opened before slamming it shut, turning back to Derek, done being pushed around.

“ I opened my fucking heart up to you, man. I just – I told you this morning how terrified I am of not being of use to people I care for and you choose **_today_** to throw all this bullshit in my face? You can judge me, I don’t care. You can be a dick all you want but at least tell me why. Why now, Derek?”

“ Because you were being so fucking.. irresponsible! You said we talked about it today and we did. We talked about how you should stop throwing your life around like it’s nothing. You shouldn’t take unnecessary risks, and then what do you do? You act like a fucking idiot and stand in front of two werewolves against a gang of hunters. That bullet could have gone through you instead of Cora, and then what? You would have **_died_** , Stiles. Cora and I wouldn’t die but you would. And then you stay around and clean up like that will make it all better. It fucking won’t. I **_hate_** that you did that. I hate that you put me through that.” Derek threw his arm away, so visibly shaken. 

“ I didn’t do anything wrong! What did you expect me to do? Stand there and watch them kill you and Cora and everyone I give a fuck about?” Stiles yelled back, just as furious.

“ If you’re more vulnerable than them, then yes. I expect you to do nothing.”

“ Well then I’m sorry but you’re always going to be left disappointed. I am **_never_** going to stop trying to protect those I care about. I am never going to stand by and watch bad things happen to people. It’s not who I am. It’s not something I am able to do.”

“ Fine! Go chase after all the different ways you could get yourself killed, but don’t bring it into my home. I want no part in whatever bullshit act of heroism you want to carry out in the name of sacrifice.”

“ If you bring the bad guys into your home then you won’t have a choice, really.”

“ Stiles, I swear to God, if you don’t – “

“ What? What are you going to do about it?”

Derek hadn’t realized Stiles had gotten right into his personal space, until they were heaving chest to heaving chest. Stiles’ eyes were blown wide, infuriated and challenging. There was a gap between his lips, as he forced out his loud exhales. Even this - Stiles having some silly stand-off with a recently shot at werewolf with pent up rage and decades of piled up issues and a serious problem dealing with his emotions – was so fucking dumb.

Derek grunted; a futile attempt at intimidating Stiles. Warning him off, one last time. He didn’t budge.

With a surrendered shake of his head and absolutely no rational thought in mind, Derek grabbed Stiles by the face, and smashed their lips together. He saw Stiles’ eyes dilating, right before he closed his own eyes. He didn’t push, didn’t want to take the lead for once. He wanted to make sure Stiles was okay with this. Wanted this as much as he did. Stiles let out a small breath into Derek’s mouth, leaned in closer, kissed harder. Derek was overcome with a tingly, unfamiliar sensation spreading through him. He thought it could be joy. Relief.

“ How about **_that_** for something to do?” Derek whispered, his words falling right between Stiles’ lips.

“ Yeah, I’m good with that. Really good.” Stiles chuckled, kissed Derek’s chin, before lifting his eyes.

“ I don’t want you to feel obligated to do anything you don’t want to do. You don’t have to feel tied down or like – “

“ Derek,” Stiles laughed again, putting a finger to Derek’s lips, halting his word vomit. “ Can’t you tell that this is exactly what I want? What I’ve wanted for a while now?”

“ What do you mean?”

“ I mean, me casually telling you that I’m into boys too, it wasn’t by accident.”

“ It wasn’t?”

“ No. I wanted you to know. I wanted this. Wanted you.” Derek's grin was something straight out of a dream, leaning in for another kiss.

They heard a whistle, jumped away from one another, but Derek’s fingers were wrapped around Stiles wrist like he wasn’t willing to completely let go.

“ A girl gets shot and passes out for an hour and suddenly her brother is making out with his high school crush.”

“ I don’t have a crush.” Derek rolled his eyes, took a step back to be standing shoulder to shoulder with Stiles.

“ Dude, you were **_kissing_** him, when are you going to admit you like him?” Cora walked into the kitchen, grabbed a cup of coffee and dropped into the couch.

“ That’s none of your business.” Derek tilted his head towards Stiles, wanting to evaluate his expression, see if he was still on board. His cheeks were tinted red and he was biting down on his lip but he smelled of warmth and gooiness so Derek wasn’t too worried about it.

“ I do like you. I just don’t want her to rub it in my face forever.” Derek whispered, his breath tickling the side of Stiles’ neck.

“ Werewolf super-hearing, asshole.” Cora announced, flipping Derek off over the back of the couch.

“ Wait, where is the Chinese food?” Cora questioned, looking around the still food-free counter and table.

“ The delivery guy must have seen the police cars and bailed. We’ll just pick it up on our way back from the hospital. Come on, Melissa is probably waiting for us.” Cora sighed, stood from the couch and walked to the door. When Derek didn’t immediately follow after her, she decided to give them some privacy, waving goodbye at Stiles before climbing down the stairs.

“ Are you going to stay here, or?”

“ Nah, I’ll go home. My dad said he’d come home early today and I have homework to finish before he does.”

“ So it went well with him?” Derek laid a hand against Stiles’ shoulder, trying to offer his support in case it was needed.

“ Yeah, he apologized for everything, said that seeing those parents lose their kid, made him think of me and it freaked him out. He was stressed and exhausted and he lashed out. He promised the drinking wasn’t anywhere near as bad as it used to be and said he would stop if it would make me feel better. So, yeah, it went pretty okay.”

“ Good. I told you he loves you.”

“ You did. Thank you, by the way. For being there this morning. I sort of hoped you would be waiting outside the station but still, you helped me out.”

“ I would have stayed, I just didn’t want to overstep. I didn’t know if you’d want that.”

“ Well, now you know.”

“ I do.” This time, when Derek went in for a kiss, he thought about it less. Felt it more.

“ Okay, uh, I’ll see you later?”

“ See you later.”

That should have been just that, but they walked down the stairs holding hands. Derek walked Stiles to Parrish’s car that he drove from the station to warn him about the hunters. He had to force himself away from Stiles, watching him until he disappeared down the road. Derek took Cora to the hospital, finished up the paperwork with Melissa, bandaged her up just to have something to show for when they got questioned about the shooting. They grabbed some food on their way back to the loft, ate together, and then Derek said he had to see Stiles – for research purposes of course. They still had two monsters roaming around town. There were still people dying. Just because things felt right for once for them, didn’t mean that the world would let them have their moment.

When Derek crawled through Stiles’ window, he heard him watching a movie with his dad, laughing so loud for so long, Derek didn’t have the heart to interrupt. So he waited until the sheriff fell asleep on the couch and Stiles covered him up with a blanket, turned off the TV, and climbed the stairs to his bedroom. The smile that he gave Derek when he saw him felt like coming home.

They didn’t do any research at all that night. Derek figured, Lydia had it covered anyway. 


End file.
